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Dictionary by pitch.dog
Dialogue, prose, pace & style · Core

Past tense

Also called: past-tense prose

ELI5

Writing that describes events as having already happened.

Used in conversation

“Can we make the past tense clearer in the next draft?”

Pitch context

You may encounter “Past tense” in story, structure & screenplay conversations or materials.

Why it matters: Helps describe how a story works on the page and how its dramatic parts fit together.

Connected terms

  • Future tenseComputed from definition language and shared taxonomy. This indicates proximity, not synonymy.
  • Present tenseComputed from definition language and shared taxonomy. This indicates proximity, not synonymy.
When the words have to travel

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Sources & evidence · 4

Supporting source families. This entry is an editorial synthesis rather than a quotation from one canonical glossary.